Furnace.



JOHN ROBERT FORTUNE,- OF DETROIT,

IRON WORKS, OF DETROIT,

MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO MURPHY MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN.

FURNACE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 2, 1907.

Application filed October 29, 1906. Serial No. 341,100.

To (ZZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN ROBERT Fon- TUNE, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Furnaces, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the ac companying drawings. I

The invention relates to automatic or selfstoking frunaces, and has more particular reference to the means employed for clearing the grates of ashes.

Heretofore grates for self-stoking furnaces have been provided with rotary clinker-bars, which are rotated to remove the ashes and clinker. It has been found in the practical use of furnaces of this type that under certain conditions it is desirable to produce a greater fuel consumption on one portion of the grate than on another. Thus in some instances it is desirable to feed more fuel to the front of the grate, while under different conditions it is preferable to feed more to the rear than to the front, and such differential feeding has been accomplished by suitable construction of stoking mechanism. Inasmuch, however, as the operation of the clinker-bar as heretofore constructed is uniform throughout its length, the feeding of a greater quantity of fuel on one portion of the grate than another Will cause a greater accumulation of ashes thereon, thereby interfering with free combustion.

It is the object of the present invention to avoid this difficulty by providing means for differentially removing the ashes, whereby the removal of the ashes from all portions of the grate is proportional to the quantity of fuel fed thereon. This differential action may be produced in various ways, some of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical cross-section through a furnace to which my improvements are applied. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the grate and clinker-bar, and Flgs. 3, 4, and 5 are similar views of a modified construction.

A is the furnace, provided with a grate B, preferably formed of a series of lnclined grate-bars arranged upon opposite sides of a central grate-bearer O.

D is a shelf at the upper end of the gratebars, over which the fuel is periodically fed onto the grate by suitable means, such as the reciprocatory fuel-chargers E.

F is a rotary clinker-bar extending longitudinally of the grate between the sides of the grate-bearers O. The clinker-bar F is provided with radiallyrojecting teeth which engage with the cli er during the rotation of the bar, carrying the same downward through the space between said bar and the grate-bearer. Heretofore these have been made of uniform diameter throughout their length and have been arranged parallel to the sides of the gratebearers, so that an equal s ace is left for the removal of the clinker an ashes on all portions of the bar. The present construction, as illustrated in Fig. 2, is rovided With a tapering clinker-bar, one en of which is con siderably larger than the other, while the space between the separated sides of the grate-bearers is uniform through the length. This results in providing a larger space be tween the small end of the bar and the gratebearers than at the larger end, and in use this will produce a greater feeding or removal of the clinker and ashes through the larger space. The same effect is also obtained with the modified construction illustrated in Fig. 4, in which the clinker-bar is of uniform diameter throughout its length and the sides of the grate-bearers are tapered to produce a greater space at one end than at the other. In Fig. 5 still another modification is illustrated, in which the bar is composed of a plurality of tapered sections, each of which will produce a differential feeding of the clinker, and in Fig. 3 a pair of tapered bars is shown. All of these various constructions embody the same general idea of means-that is, the feeding of the greater quantity by one portion of the bar than by another portion. Thus by properly designing the bar with respect to the construction of the stoking or fuel-feeding mechanism the consumption of fuel on different portions of the grate may be varied as conditions may require.

What I claim as my invention is 1. In a furnace, the combination with a grate. of a rotary clinker-bar for feeding the ashes from said grate, said bar being adapted to operate differentially at different portions of its length.

2. In a furnace, the combination with an inclined rate, of a rotary clinker-bar eX- tending along the lower end of said grate and means whereby said clinker-bar will remove a greater quantity of the ashes at one point than at another.

3. In a furnace, the combination with a grate, of a grate-bearer having spaced sides, and a clinker-bar arranged within the space between said sides and adapted to leave a greater open space at one point than at another.

4. In a furnace, the combination with a 

